Monthly Review: January 2001

This monthly review goes out to members of the AGI Government Affairs
Program (GAP) Advisory Committee, the leadership of AGI's member societies,
and other interested geoscientists as part of a continuing effort to improve
communications between GAP and the geoscience community that it serves.

California Electricity Crisis Receives National
AttentionRising electricity bills and rolling blackouts have brought the California
energy crunch into the spotlight, providing the new Administration and
new Congress the chance to talk up a national energy policy. On January
31st, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a well-attended
hearing to discuss the California situation and how its effects are creeping
beyond the California border and into other western states. Testimony
was heard from California utility representatives of both investor and
privately owned firms, energy industry experts, and financial consultants.
The panelists agreed that in the long term the California electricity market
was going to have to be restructured -- most recommending a completely
deregulated market. Potential short-term solutions to the crisis
were discussed in detail due to the threat of more severe shortages of
power during the summer months. Senators and panelists both stressed
the need for the public to understand that electricity is not generated
by, as stated by Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), "flipping a light switch."
A complete summary of the hearing is available at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis107/ca_elec_hearing.html.

At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, President Bush announced on
January 29th that Vice President Cheney will head a task force that will
report back to the president on "how best to cope with high energy prices
and how best to cope with reliance upon foreign oil; how best to encourage
the development of pipelines and power-generating capacity in the country
so that we can better help out fellow citizens." The task force,
to be called the Energy Policy Development Group, will include several
senior members of the Cabinet. Most likely, there will be several
hearings and meetings in the coming months on the California situation
and establishing a national energy policy.

National Monument Designations, Public Land Actions
Under FireBefore leaving office on January 20th, President Clinton designated
seven new national monuments and expanded an existing monument. The seven
new monuments are Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, Pompey's
Pillar National Monument, Carrizo Plain National Monument, Sonoran Desert
National Monument, Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, Minidoka
Internment National Monument, and U.S. Virgin Island Coral Reef National
Monument. Buck Island Reef National Monument was expanded by 18,135
acres. More information and descriptions of the new monuments can
be found on the Department of the Interior website at http://www.doi.gov/news/archives/001221.html.

In response to these and other eleventh-hour actions by the outgoing
administration regarding public lands, President Bush instructed a 60-day
stay on publishing new regulations in the Federal Register in order for
the new administration to review "any new or pending regulations."
This order will not affect the newly designated national monuments but
will affect the proposed U.S. Forest Service Roadless Initiative (http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis106/roadless.html)
that would restrict road building and logging in 60 million acres of national
forest around the country.

On Capitol Hill, new House Resources Committee Chairman James Hansen
(R-UT) has announced that his committee will be carefully reviewing several
of the Clinton Administration regulations and national monument designations.
In a press release, Hansen stated: "Congress has the authority to review
this and 60 legislative days to do so. I can promise you a thorough and
vigorous review." More information on public lands issues is available
at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis.html#public.

New House Science Committee Chairman Outlines
AgendaRep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), the new Chairman of the House Science
Committee, gave his first public speech in his new role on January 31st.
Speaking to the Universities Research Association, he outlined his visions
for the committee in the coming Congress: "I want to ensure that we have
a healthy, sustainable, and productive R&D [research and development]
establishment -- one that educates students, increases human knowledge,
strengthens U.S. competitiveness and contributes to the well-being of the
nation and the world. With those goals in mind, I intend to concentrate
initially on three priorities -- science and math education, energy policy
and the environment -- three areas in which the resources and expertise
of the scientific enterprise must be brought to bear on issues of national
significance." Boehlert hopes the committee will foster communication between
scientists and different sectors in environmental science and policy. With
respect to energy policy, Boehlert said he would focus "on ensuring that
we concentrate sufficiently on alternative sources of energy – wind, solar,
fuel cells, etc. -- and on conservation and efficiency." More excerpts
from Boehlert's speech are available from the American Institute of Physics
Bulletin of Science Policy News at http://www.aip.org/enews/fyi/2001/011.html.

Natural Hazards Caucus Holds Event, Releases Discussion
PaperOn January 22nd, the Congressional Natural Hazards Caucus kicked off
its activities in the new 107th Congress with a roundtable event to consider
the impacts of the recent earthquake in El Salvador and to discuss the
broader natural hazards challenges facing the United States. In conjunction
with the event, caucus co-chairs Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) and Sen. Ted
Stevens (R-AK) released a discussion document prepared for the caucus,
highlighting why the nation is becoming more vulnerable to natural disasters
and what actions Congress can take to solve the problem. An AGI special
update contains a description of the event and links to the discussion
paper: http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis107/hazards_caucus0101.html.

Bush Administration Retains USGS DirectorIn a move that signals a return to tradition, the Bush Administration
has asked Charles G. "Chip" Groat to continue as Director of the U.S. Geological
Survey. For the first century of the survey's existence, the director's
position did not change when a new political party took over the White
House, reflecting the survey's role as a source of objective scientific
information to support policy decisions. According to sources in the new
administration, the decision to retain Groat was made easier by strong
external support. AGI and several of its member societies sent letters
to the Bush-Cheney transition team and Interior Secretary Gale Norton endorsing
Groat and the non-partisan nature of the position. Groat's retention received
strong support from numerous leading geoscientists in the private sector,
including the trustees of the AGI Foundation. Support for the director
was not limited to the geoscience community -- biological societies and
other USGS stakeholder groups also sent letters to the transition team
and Norton. In another victory for non-partisan science leadership, National
Science Foundation Director Rita Colwell appears likely to complete the
final three years of her six-year term despite initial reports that the
Bush administration might seek her resignation.

IPCC Releases Climate Change ReportThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its "Report
Summary for Policymakers of Working Group I" this month, announcing dire
predictions for future climate change. The highly publicized report
asserts that atmospheric temperatures have increased in the last four decades,
causing ice to melt, sea level to rise, increased precipitation, cloud
cover, and frequency of El Nino/La Nina events. According to the
report, there is strong evidence that human activity is the major cause
of increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In contrast,
it finds that natural factors have made only small contributions to the
increases in temperature and greenhouse gas concentrations. The report
explains the reasons for heightened confidence in recent climate models
that predict continued rise in sea level and global average temperature
in response to past, present, and future human activities.

Critics have been quick to point out the report's heavy reliance on
climate model results for its assertions of large temperature increases
in the coming century. Some also question the report's interpretation of
existing temperature data. The purpose of the Working Group I report is
to present the state of climate change science, although it also states
the importance of continued research and monitoring. Two other working
groups of the IPCC will release their reports separately, giving implications
and recommendations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (http://www.unfccc.de).
An official report summary can be found on the IPCC website (http://www.ipcc.ch)
or the U.S. Global Change Research Program website (http://usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/new.htm),
which is updated every two weeks with new developments in global change
issues.

Alabama Revisits Science Standards and EvolutionThe Alabama Board on Education is expected to vote February 8th on
state science standards, called Course of Study, which will replace standards
approved five years ago that brought the state into the limelight of the
evolution debate. The new standards include a greater focus on earth science
but also contain a preface that echoes language in the state's textbook
disclaimers describing evolution as a "controversial theory." The Geological
Society of Alabama has posted a version of the proposed standards at http://www.westga.edu/~geology/algs_web/ala_gs.html.
An AGU alert provides more news regarding the standards and information
on how Alabama geoscientists can send comments: http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/asla/asla-list?read=2001-05.msg.

AGI Co-Sponsors Transition LuncheonOn January 22nd, AGI co-sponsored a Capitol Hill luncheon for congressional
staff on the importance of having scientists in presidential appointee
positions. Dr. Mary Good, former Under Secretary of Commerce for
Technology, presented a report from the National Academy of Sciences that
describes the importance of having scientists in the government, especially
in presidential service (http://www.nationalacademies.org/presidentialappointments).
Included in the report are the "50 Most Urgent Science and Technology Presidential
Appointments." The second speaker, Carole Plowfield, a researcher
with the Brookings Institution, presented a report compiled from the results
of a survey of potential and confirmed presidential appointees (http://www.brookings.appointee.org).
The report makes recommendations for changing the appointment process to
make it less embarrassing and less confusing for potential appointees as
well as suggests ways to bring the perception of public service into a
more positive light. The third speaker, Abram Hutchings of the Cato Institute,
challenged the notion that simply having a scientific background qualifies
one for an appointee position. He stated that other skills in business,
or social science might be necessary to be effective in an appointee position.
Also, he pointed out that politics corrupts science and therefore it is
better to keep scientists in objective, information-gathering positions.

Now that the Bush-Cheney Administration has been inaugurated, the political
appointment process has shifted from the Transition Office to the White
House Office of Presidential Personnel. Contact information and other material
on the appointment process is available from AGI's "Presidential Transition
2000: Geoscience Related Federal Appointments" at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/transition.html.

Welcome to AGI/AAPG Semester InternUniversity of Nevada Reno geoscience major Mary Patterson has joined
AGI's Government Affairs Program for the spring semester as an AGI/AAPG
Geoscience and Public Policy Intern. She will be spending four months with
AGI attending congressional hearings, researching policy issues, and writing
issue updates for the program's website. We welcome Mary and gratefully
acknowledge support for the internship provided by the American Association
of Petroleum Geologists.

Schedule of Upcoming GAP Activities

Feb. 23-25

AAPG Leadership Conference

Tulsa OK

March 23-24

AGI Associates Conference

Denver CO

April 23

AAPG Energy Supply Conference

Washington DC

May 1-2

SET Congressional Visits Day

Washington DC

May 3-4

AAAS Colloquium

Washington DC

New Material on Web SiteThe following updates and reports were added to the Government Affairs
portion of AGI's web site http://www.agiweb.org/gap
since the last monthly update: